Apr 25, 2013 - Bogota, Columbia (In Transit)

@@@@@@@ KAPOORS ON THE ROAD After the fiasco at the Quito airport over the issue of the Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificates, we were just happy to have been allowed on the flight to Colombia and then the connecting flight to Costa Rica. We’d very much like to come to Bogota and explore the city in depth, but first we will have to calm our son Raj’s fears about being a tourist in Columbia. He’s travelled here on oil-industry business more than once, and is always accompanied by an armed escort. We certainly don’t want to cause him any...

Feb 28, 2013 - Bogotá

Pour la dernière fois, nous avons vécu les transports colombiens. Nous sommes partis de Cabo de la Vela à 5h00 du matin et étions censés arriver le lendemain à 8h00 à Bogota. Malheureusement pour nous, ce jour-là, les producteurs de café avaient décidé de se mettre en grève et de bloquer les routes dans tout le pays. Nous sommes donc arrivés à Bogota vers 16h00 et n'avions plus que 1 jours et demi pour visiter la ville. Nous avons commencé par la visite du musée de l'or. On y trouve des pièces de nombreuses civilisations, dont la...

Oct 15, 2012 - Bogota in the dark

We left Barichara later than planned as breakfast was a little chaotic. The plan was to travel to 'Villa de Leyva' where we were to visit a car enthusiast at his beautiful house, view his collection of cars and show ours off and have lunch. We did manage that but I drove the last stretch to lunch and there were hairpins (not as many as Robin had) and more than my fair shre of potholes. I will be brief with the rest of the day: Lunch Stop in pretty square at the invitation of the Mayor to show off the cars Laft Villa de Leyva escorted by...

Jul 11, 2012 - It had to happen some time

OK we're all allowed one major glitch in this length of time and mine was missing my flight from Quito to Antigua. I was up at the required 5am had breakfast and was on time to the airport. Had no trouble checking in and then went into the lounge to wait. Checked out all the shops and sat down and wrote some diary. The mistake I made well two really was to not check the flight time - it had been put forward an hour and not to sit in the specific lounge allocated to my flight. Soooo when I got there my plane was taxiing up the...

Jul 6, 2012 - Bogota day 2-3

Bogota day 2 Was eventful. Definitely saw the city a little. Walked on down to the museum of fat art which gave me a case of the giggles. Spent my time with an English, ausie, sweed, and germ. Then we went to the police museum to see an exhibit about Pablo Escobar.  Unfortunately the exhibit was closed for renovation. So we got a tour led by a police dude, he showed us all the police badges, uniforms, guns, helicopters, and awards. It was most Un thrilling and basically a waste of 2 hours. We did get a good view of the city where the police...

Jul 4, 2012 - Bogota day 1

Bogota.  I arrived at the airport and caught a taxi to the hostel. There was lots of traffic and the streets were dirty. The people looked poor and the houses looked rundown. I began to worry about the safety. It took about  30 minutes to get to the hostel. I arrived and there was a big wood door with a doorbell and video camera. They beeped me into the door then there was a second gated door to get into the office and was beeped in again. Talk about security. Anyways the people were very helpful and gave me a tour around the hostel. The...

Jan 15, 2012 - Bogota, Columbia

The bus to Bogota was a five hour, turned into seven hour trip. It was sweltering for the first five and chilly the last two. Bogota is the third highest capitol city in SA, after La Paz, Bolivia and Quito. I went directly from the terminal to the airport and tried to change my ticket. I was ready to fly then and there were seats on the 1 AM flight but they weren’t the same class and they wouldn’t let me pay to upgrade. I went round and round with them for about three hours. At first they said they could do nothing and I had to return to...

Oct 8, 2011 - Barmy Bogota

Bogota 5th-8th Oct 3 days in Bogota started with an attempt to find the old town (Cathedrals, chapels, religious Catholic stuff, Lorraine has been trying to teach me about the 14 points of the cross or something, I'm not a very good student) from Zona Rosa, apparently the safest place to stay in Bogota. I instantly noticed the difference in climate from Central America, cool fresh air and no humidity wahoo! Think its because we're in the moutains, although I wasn't prepared for needing to wear jeans and a hoody... it's chuffing cold here....

Oct 5, 2011 - South America here we come!!!!

South America here we come!!! Well central america is over, reflecting (lol) on the last 3 weeks I couldnt be happier with the beginning of my travels. Although I am missing my family and friends, we have had a positive start to our travels and hoping it continues:) During the last 3 weeks we have at times came across a wee bit of travel snobbery with people indirectly hinting that we have had a short trip and that they have spent 3/4 weeks in the one area immersing themselves in the culture etc etc blah blah blah...sorry what were you...

Oct 5, 2011 - Not for the feint hearted!!!!- bogotaaaaaaa

The first thing I noticed about bogota was how fresh the air was, no smell of smoke, fried chicken or dog!!!!... Just normal clean fresh air, and that was were the normality ended lol!!! After reading columbias history I was really interested in going to bogota, i also think this was because so many people said it was daft and that we were off our heads for going!!!...  Obviously the whole drug war carry on interested me and what I didn't know was that the only way america agrees to support Columbia financially is if they agree to the poppy...

Aug 21, 2011 - Colombia

Firstly, apologies for our last blog, a gremlin crept in and cut off half the text, we have since corrected this so please go back and read again if you want!!! Colombia, a country which inspires thoughts of white powder, moustache wielding drug lords, beautiful women and of course the blonde who brought us Waka - Waka. Although Colombia still has Shakira (Phew!) and unbelievably attractive women, the notorious Pablo Escobar is gone and the once booming cocaine trade is slowly being eradicated. (Colombia, previously the largest, is now...

Apr 21, 2011 - Bogota (3) - Colombia

April 19, 2011 I got up and tried to put on the same socks as yesterday I have very few pairs. The heals were stiff. I wondered how many days I have been wearing them. I thought they were new yesterday. Who knows? But it WAS a big day at the airport yesterday. Today I bought a couple of t-shirts. I don’t know what to get anyone so no one is getting anything. I also bought a new pair of jeans today so that I have something to wear when I get mine washed before I go to Canada. Another thing I bought my pirate crucifix today it cost...